ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Samui Island in Thailand is focused upon to illustrate the attempts of tourism stakeholders to adopt ‘green’ practices to address the serious environmental impacts resulting from mass tourism. Island destinations are particularly vulnerable due to their fragile ecology, peripherality (resulting in their geographic isolation, both from physical mainland and population centres), small size (both in terms of population and surface), and limited socio-economic opportunities (Wilkinson, 1989). Moreover, island tourism can create significant negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts if it is not managed and organized well. For instance, Scheyvens (2011) points out how, in the Maldives, tourism benefits only a minority, as 42 per cent of the population earn less than 2 dollars a day due to rampant corruption and a repressive policy environment. Similarly, in Caribbean islands, where the economy is dominated by the tourism industry, inequality has set in due to large-scale ecological degradation, resulting in the marginalization of the weakest segments of the population (Burke and Maidens, 2004). These problems are compounded by a lack of understanding of the variability of island environments, particularly at the level of global planning for climate change, and sustainable management of coastal environments (Nunn et al., 1999).
